The first complete atlas of marine life in the Southern Ocean

After weeks of going through dusty boxes of old notes and sheltering from sub-zero temperatures and wild winds, hundreds of scientists have produced a world first: 'The Biogeographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean'. Not only does the atlas document life in the ocean, it reveals some astonishing surprises. Verica Jokic reports.

The first ever comprehensive atlas of marine life in the Southern Ocean has just been completed.

Not only did the scientists document thousands of species of plants and animals, they were able to show some species of marine life originated in the Southern Ocean centuries ago and moved from there to other parts of the world.

We were surprised some parts of the Southern Ocean were as diverse in species as the Caribbean; that the oceans around the Antarctic are not barren at all.

Professor Michael Stoddart, University of Tasmania

Professor Michael Stoddart from the University of Tasmania says the research shows the Southern Ocean is actually a hot spot for speciation.

'We can trace the ancestries of a deep sea octopus and a sea spider back to the Antarctic centuries ago,' Professor Stoddart said.

'But there's a really good reason for it and it's all got to do with the fact that the ocean swirls around the waters of Antarctica a bit like a washing machine.'

According to Professor Stoddart, the world's waters meet at the Antarctic and are pushed back northwards by an enormous current into the three great ocean basins: the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

'It's those forward tongues of fast moving water that have delivered these new species into their new locations in the north ... it's a super highway.'

Scientists from Australia, the UK, France, Germany, several South American countries, Japan and New Zealand documented 9000 species of marine life for the atlas.

'We probably have another 1000 species or more sitting around the world in preserving liquid waiting to be identified,' Professor Stoddart says.

He says when it comes to naming new species, the golden rule is that a new species cannot be named after the person who discovered it.

'You can name it in honor of the person on the bench working next to you ... and I have to say one of my cherished possessions from this whole census of Antarctic marine life is a very tiny creature that's been named after me, belonecti-stoddarti.'

The tiny shrimp-like creature was found 2.5 kilometres deep in the north-western part of the Antarctic.

Professor Stoddart says scientists did not expect to find so many different species.

'We were surprised some parts of the Southern Ocean were as diverse in species as the Caribbean; that the oceans around the Antarctic are not barren at all.'

'There are high nutrient and oxygen levels in the water,' he says.

Two areas located south of Australia that were of such richness that they have been put forward for recognition and protection as areas of special marine significance.

'We can see marks super trawlers have left ... and we have pictures of damage done to the bottom by iceberg scars.'

The idea behind the atlas began in 2007, when it was decided there would be an International Polar Year, during which polar scientists would make a big push to try and understand many aspects of the two polar realms.

'I recall the day sitting around thinking, "what's Australia going to do really make its mark in the International Polar Year."', says Professor Stoddart. 'I'm not a person given to flashes of inspiration but I thought, "why don't we do a census of all the marine life around Antarctica?"'

No matter their country of origin, the scientists all used the same sampling techniques to produce results which could be compared from one place to another with confidence.

'We were able to collect a lot of old data sets that have been lying around in people's offices and in cardboard boxes under their desks going back for 50 years or more, a lot of them from Russian scientists who had handwritten notes in note books, all in old Russian script,' he says.

The notes were translated and produced invaluable information about what species existed and where. That information is will help form the basis for future scientists to gauge changes.

'It's the bedrock of fundamental biological data upon which you can then make future predictions,' says Professor Stoddart.

'I'm sorry to say it's not that we opened some of these old notebooks and enormous discoveries leapt out, but what we got was the steady progress of people who had worked methodically for years upon years upon years and all that data was in danger of disappearing.'

The atlas weighs more than three kilograms and is organised according to groups of organisms, with drawings or photos of each organism and maps of where they can be found.

Professor Stoddart says there is still more to be discovered about life in the Southern Ocean and one area scientists know practically nothing about is the bacteria.

'Every drop of seawater has got about 10,000 species of bacteria in it,' says Professor Stoddart. 'If I give you one drop now it's got 10,000 bacteria in it. If I give you another drop it's got a different 10,000 in it and a third drop has got a different 10,000 in it.'

'So when you start to talk about numbers of species, I would have to say we haven't even yet begun to scratch the surface. The diversity of life in all its forms is absolutely overwhelming.'